ELIANA COULDN'T GET that stupid smile off her face even when Dolores's child woke her up very early in the morning, when Sid clawed at her bed, making a mess of her blankets, or when she had to clean the first floor twice because she was too preoccupied to notice she was mopping the floor with a dry mop half the time.
"Excited?" Señora Julieta smiled fondly at Eliana as she watched her finish packing the last of the mini-popcorn she made.
The other's smile widened in reply. Excited? Of course she was! She had been smiling for so long it actually hurt her cheeks.
Today was a special day. Eliana was going to perform yet again in front of more kids. But for a longer time and with bigger, more complicated tricks.
"I am." Eliana stopped her work to take a deep breath.
If you told her she would start performing for kids once a week, every Friday, Eliana would've thought you mistook her for someone else because she was sure she would never do something so... trivial, while there were still so much responsibilities to do. But here she was now. The children even dubbed Fridays as "Eliana's Day", which made her heart swell whenever she heard them say it through the streets.
Dolores entered the kitchen and made her way to Eliana. "By the way, please save mi hija a seat, she's looking forward to seeing your levitation trick again."
The other was about to answer when Natalia barrelled into the kitchen, eyes wide and searching for one of her favorite playmates. "Camilo? I swear I saw you coming in here- Hola Señora Julieta, Señora Dolores, Hermana Anna! Have you seen Camilo?"
Julieta immediately looked at Dolores as Eliana felt the woman beside her tense up. She sighed at finally noticing a hand discreetly reaching to one of the popcorn containers. "Camilo. Those are for the kids."
Knowing he was already found out, "Dolores" shapeshifted into a kid and crossed her arms. "What do you mean? I am a kid."
Eliana raised a brow, "If you come to my show, you might just get an extra bowl, kiddo." She ruffled Camilo's hair, making him blush and pout.
But before he could say anything more, Natalia was already dragging him out of the kitchen to continue with their dress-up game.
He threw one last look at the two women in the kitchen looking at his pouty face (which by the way, was still a 6-year-old girl's face) with small smiles on their faces.
Even though the man was a pain most of the time, Eliana couldn't help but feel her heart and limbs turn into mush whenever he was around. He was someone who she never thought would make her feel so... giddy and daring but calm and soft at the same time.
Thanks to him, she could do something for herself for once. Not for her sister, father, Casita, Camilo, Dolores, Abuela, or anyone really.
Don't get her wrong, she liked doing things for others like cleaning, babysitting and cooking, as those activities gave her time and some inspiration to come up with new magic tricks. But this, this was a nice change she cherished.
And she can't wait for later.
It was dusk when Eliana's show ended. And it was past dinner when she finished packing and cleaning up. But to her, the smiles and fun she got from her latest levitation trick were all worth it.
Humming softly, Eliana finally started her way back home. Closing her eyes, she imagined the kids she performed for talking with their mouths full of delicious dinner, each child wanting to rant about what they'd seen and how they would want to have magic too.
She even saw a little girl, who was actually a shapeshifted Camilo, in the small crowd. Eliana thought it was sweet of him to join as a kid so the attention would stay on her. It was also nice to notice he wore the small yellow beaded bracelet she had bought during her first tour of the village. She had given it to him as thanks for everything.
Her thoughts of Camilo were broken by loud clatters behind her. Eliana spun around, instinctively clutching her bag on her torso.
A bunch of drunk men stumbled towards her, their breaths reeking of alcohol and spoiled garlic.
What did they have for dinner? Eliana wondered, shuddering as she watched them come closer.
She smiled politely and discreetly took a few steps back to put some distance. "Hello. What may I do for you, Señors?"
One of them, a big-bellied man, wobbled forward and flashed her what he thought was a sexy smirk (he looked like a blob fish in his state). "What'za pretty lady like ye doin' outtalone in the street tonigh?"
"Yeahh... letus walk yer home~" A short stick of a man came forward next, leaning on his friend.
Eliana inwardly grimaced at the group. Men...
Smiling tightly, she quickly responded with, "Thank you for the kind offer but no thank you. I can manage walking home alone."
She had experienced her fair share of harassment from drunk men and opted to go through with her usual response.
"Lookie here, pequeña dama, we're just bein' nice to ye. Letus walk yer home." The short man repeated with more authority, stepping closer to grab Eliana by the shoulders.
But Eliana was quicker. She sidestepped and quickly opened her hands in front of his face and released an explosion of confetti as a temporary distraction.
While the men were too disoriented by a bunch of paper in their mouths to curse at her, Eliana escaped. She bounded to the maze-like alleyways to lessen the chance of them catching up to her.
She constantly looked back to check if someone was behind her. Maybe a little too much or she'd see the person running in front of her before they bumped into one another.
She let another explosion of confetti out of her hands to distract whoever this person was.
"Wait! Wait! Ack-! Eliana- mmphf!"
Her ragged breathing calmed a little at the familiar voice. "Camilo?" She shakily asked, her mind clearing from her initial adrenaline and fear.
Indeed it was Camilo. He was rubbing his aching butt while spitting the rest of the confetti out of his mouth.
"Dios mio! Lo siento! I didn't see you there... uh- here." She scrambled to get up and offered a hand to the other.
Camilo accepted her hand. "Está bien, Eliana. Yo soy el que debería arrepentirse. I saw you but didn't stop."
"What are you doing here?" Eliana asked as they dusted their clothes.
"Dolores overhead those hombres brutos and I came here as fast as I could." He didn't say the part where Dolores and his primas teased him for being so quick to act and telling him to go be Eliana's "knight and shining armor." He wanted to smack the smug grins off their faces but he was too worried about Eliana to waste time on that.
Eliana raised a brow and crossed her arms defiantly. "I can take care of myself, thank you."
"While you were trying to spit the confetti out, I could have run away and be in Casita already." She deadpanned.
Camilo opened his mouth to retort but closed it back again. Damn she's right... Why do I feel the need to make sure she's okay? She can take care of herself... is it because she's my friend now?
While he was lost in his thoughts, the group of drunkards were getting nearer.
"Where'd ye think she went?"
"Somewhere 'ere I say. She ain't gone far with 'er lil legs."
Despite Eliana's longing to throw a shoe at them for insulting her legs like that, she knew they needed to leave. She didn't want to engage in a street brawl with a bunch of boozers.
She quickly grabbed Camilo's hand and bolted through the alleys, not allowing them to stop and catch their breaths. Not that Camilo minded. He was too busy looking at their interlocked fingers.
There it was again. That weird tingly feeling in his tummy. For a second he thought he had a stomach worm and was concerned, but he realized the feeling wasn't just in his stomach—his hands, feet, chest—all of him was tingling.
Just like the time Mirabel told him to be Eliana's knight and shining armor, he suddenly an explosion of warmth spread from his chest to his cheeks. He worried Eliana might catch his heat and get sick. He also worried his hands would get so sweaty and Eliana would let go.
Wait... why did I care if she let go?
He didn't get a chance to answer himself as they stumbled out of the last alley and a sudden cool breeze smacked his face, as if it was also disappointed at him for being so dense.
The two didn't stop running until they were inside Casita. Even then, Eliana slammed the door shut for good measure and apologized when the house complained at her harshness.
They stood there for a couple of seconds. Panting and huffing their adrenaline out.
Eliana caught Camilo's gaze and they stared at each other for a second. Before they burst into laughter.
There was nothing to laugh about but somehow, they were laughing—to the point where the two felt like dying because they couldn't breathe anymore. For some reason, that thought just made them laugh harder.
Camilo was the first to stop, suddenly aware that they weren't alone. He looked up to see Dolores, Luisa, Antonio and Mirabel giving him knowing smirks and he flushed in embarrassment. Now he really wanted to die.
Much to his relief, the four seemed to telepathically agree to tease him later and focus on Eliana in the meantime.
"Dolores heard what happened. Are you okay?" Mirabel immediately interrogated her. She even pulled her closer to inspect if those drunk jerks did anything.
Eliana offered her a small smile and reassuring hug. "Yes. I'm okay."
Mirabel pulled away and smiled back. "Thank goodness! We were so worried... But did you know who was most worried~?" She quickly added, smiling deviously at the idea of exposing her primo.
Dolores nudged her before getting her own hug from Eliana. She hesitated, but soon found herself whispering, "Camilo was the first to perk up", directly on her ear before pulling away.
She didn't realize how flustered that would make the other.
A faint blush rose on Eliana's cheeks before she schooled her expression and smiled politely.
Noticing her sudden stiffness, Dolores led the group to the kitchen. "Why don't we all go to the kitchen for some water hm? You two must be tired from all that running too."
Eliana smiled gratefully at her and accepted the cup of water. Meanwhile, Camilo eyed his sister suspiciously. She was being too nice to him...
"How did you escape them?" Luisa asked. She was itching to go with Camilo to beat those punks up but Dolores, Mirabel and Isabela, before she went to bed to get some beauty sleep, stopped her, saying that if it all went well, Camilo would look like a cool savior and Eliana would fall harder for him. She was still skeptical but they reassured her they would let her go at the slightest sound of danger.
"She released an explosion of confetti from her hands." Camilo grumped, remembering how bad it felt in his mouth.
"Still upset about my accidental explosion on your face?" Eliana boo-hooed.
He looked away and pouted, mumbling, "That was an attack on my gorgeous face."
Eliana smiled and leaned her chin on her hand. "You're not wrong though. You have a pretty face. I'm sorry for attacking it."
Camilo flushed pink at her compliment and chugged his water to cool his burning face.
The other four suppressed their urge to gush about how cute the two were being, to say something sarcastic like, "just kiss already", or straight up push them so that they would kiss.
"For real though." Camilo cleared his throat and went serious. "Your magic tricks may be cool and handy but you need some sort of body guard. If you had, they wouldn't even approach you in the first place!" He ranted.
Eliana sighed, "I told you. I can take care of myself, Sir Worrywart." She paused and started to smile mischievously. "You're incredibly pushy about this. Do you want to be mi escolta?"
"What! No- I'm too busy to follow you around every Friday afternoon to evening..." Camilo immediately denied. "Plus, I'll miss dinner and Tía's food will be cold by then. And I DO NOT like eating cold food."
Mirabel rolled her eyes. Excuses, excuses. "Pah, who cares? You can always reheat the food, right Casita?" The counter tile flapped to answer yes.
Dolores nodded, "She's right. Why don't you be her bodyguard?"
"You're the one who thought of the idea." Antonio added.
"You were also the first one who acted when Dolores said Eliana was in trouble." Luisa finished.
The five of them gave him an expectant look.
Camilo grimaced. What did I get myself into?
• pequeña dama ~ little lady
• Dios mio! Lo siento! ~ My god! I'm sorry!
• Está bien ~ it's okay
• Yo soy el que debería arrepentirse ~ I'm the one who should be sorry
• hombres brutos ~ gross men
• mi escolta ~ my escort / bodyguard
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